


Vision in The Fog

by EndlessRainOfWords



Series: Happy Endings Take Time [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Anxiety Attacks, M/M, Photography, School Clubs, Slow Burn, Strangers to Friends, Theatre, Underage Drinking, homophobic parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-19
Updated: 2019-05-15
Packaged: 2019-05-25 16:55:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14981486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EndlessRainOfWords/pseuds/EndlessRainOfWords
Summary: High school might be hell with the wrong people. Luckily for Roman, he finds the best friend group he could find, and not so luckily, develops a crush on his best friend.Prequel to “Skype Calls & Realizations”[But it can be read alone.]





	1. Year 10: Photography Club

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!  
> Some people said they’d be interested in if I expended the story “Skype Calls & Realizations”, so here it is. I hope you like it.  
> (I have some sequel ideas that I’ll be writing after the prequel finishes, so stay tuned I guess.)

Being gay in a heteronormative environment is hard. And as if high school wasn’t hard enough, even after moving into a much more liberal town, Roman was not able to express himself because of his homophobic parents. Roman saw all these kids who were finding out who they were, what they wanted to be and expressing themselves by their clothes and interests. He would give anything for his parents to be excepting enough that he could paint his nails or put on make up sometimes.  

And as Roman felt less and less accepted in his family, he grew distant from them. So he tried his best to stay away from his house. But moving away from his friends in a place where he knew no one, in year 10. So he couldn’t just stay in a friend’s place after school.

So he joined as many school clubs as he could. He was really interested in some of them, like drama, choir, writing. And some... well, he wasn’t so sure about. Like photography. And that’s how he met Virgil Sanders.

It had already been an exhausting day, and it certainly didn’t help that he was grouped with the most annoying freshman ever. With his messy black eyeliner, black and purple hoodie, ripped black jeans and purple coloured hair, he looked like he went to a MCR concert and didn’t bother to change his clothes or redo his make up in the morning. Roman however, with his light blue jeans, white shoes and white t-shirt accompanied by a red jacket, was a complete contrast to Virgil.

There were about six groups around, people with cameras was paired with people without and they were assigned to prepare a scene and take a picture together, but with the amount of argument that was happening, that simply seemed impossible. Roman would admit, he didn’t know a lot about photography, but he was an excellent actor, he knew his way around art and he wasn’t going to let this emo kid tell him otherwise.

After a long time of arguing, Roman sighed, looking frustrated, fixed his hair and said “Fuckin- fine, I’ll do what you want.” He just wanted to get this project over.

After that, Virgil looked like he was given the elder wand, ready to show some magic. First he took Roman to the dressing room and picked out some clothes, after that they went to the garden of the school. He went to the biggest maple tree in the garden. It was autumn, so the leaves were getting orange and brown. Virgil gave the blue-brown scarf and the denim jacket he picked and took his camera out of his bag. He placed Roman in front of the tree and gave him a brownish-red leaf, and asked Roman to do some poses.

As Virgil was working on those photographs, Roman felt worse and worse about his overconfident and stubborn behavior because Virgil seemed really passionate about this and it was clear that he knew a lot about it, a lot more than Roman. 

“Hey, I’m sorry about-“

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. I’m used to being underestimated. Don’t you want to see the pictures?”

Virgil gave him the camera and showed the photographs he took.

“These are amazing, Virgil.”

“Thanks,” he was holding back a grin.

“We need to chose one.”

They agreed on the one Roman smiled genuinely, holding a leaf in hand, scarf flying in the wind, his face glowing with sunshine.

“You’re really talented, I’m really sorry I underestimated you.” Roman said while they were walking back to the building.

“As I said, it’s fine.”

“How can I make it up to you?” Roman said, dramatically.

“I just said-“

“Yeah, but a prince has got to be kind and if not-“

“Prince?” Virgil asked.

“Oh my, how rude of me, I didn’t even properly introduce myself! Perhaps that’s where we went wrong.” Roman said, cleared his throat, and fixed his posture. “Hello, I’m Roman Arthur Prince.” He held his hand forward. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

Virgil laughed, “I’m Virgil Dex Sanders.” shook Roman’s hand “Nice to meet you too.”

“So, Arthur?”

“It’s a family tradition to name the man in the family names of the kings.” Roman said.

“That’s quite extra.” Virgil laughed.

“I guess that’s where I get it from.” Roman said and wanted to change the subject from his parents, “And... Dex? What does it mean?”

“It literally means right handed, and I’m a leftie.”

“Oh, I’m left handed too.”

They continued talking as they walked inside and got the picture printed. It didn’t feel long before they started to talk about disney films.

“What’s your favorite disney film?”

“Black Cauldron. No songs. It’s perfect.” Virgil answered. “What’s yours?”

“Oh I can’t chose amongst my-“ before Roman could finish his sentence, a brown haired boy with glasses, a black shirt and a blue necktie came to their direction in a mad rush and interrupted their conversation.

“Virgil! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. I believe photography ended half an hour ago, where have you been?”

“It has? I guess we got carried away with the conversation.” Virgil answered, guiltily.

“While I’m glad you are making friends, I would expect you to be more responsible.” The boy said while fixing his necktie.

“Yeah... friends.” Virgil said, nervously smiling. “Roman, this is my brother, Logan. Logan, this is Roman, we met at my Photography club.” Virgil introduced.

Now that they have been introduced as brothers, Roman could see the similarities between them. They both had defined jaw lines, straight hair and all though Virgil’s posture and skinniness was making him look a little shorter, they were around the same hight.

“Nice to meet you.” Roman said while shaking Logan’s hand. “I believe we have history together.”

“Yes, you came to the school this year, correct?”

“Yeah, we recently moved here.”

“Well, it was very nice to meet you, Roman. But we have to get home now. Don’t we, Virgil?” Logan said.

“Yeah, yeah, sorry.” Virgil answered.

“Okay, um,” Roman paused. “I probably won’t continue Photography, but I would like to do this again some time.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Then, they exchanged numbers and said their goodbyes. As Roman watched two brothers leave, he felt that maybe things weren’t going to be so bad.


	2. Year 11: Before The Party

Year 10 went a lot better than Roman thought it would. Couple of days after he met Virgil and Logan, he was introduced to Patton who was Virgil’s closest friend since middle-school, and Patton’s cousin Damien and Damien’s boyfriend Remy. He felt like he found his people and felt proud of being friends with them, especially after Patton said that even though they knew each other for so long, they didn’t become a group before Roman came along.  
Also, last year was great because of theatre. They played the musical “Sound of Music” last year. Mrs. G was a great teacher and Roman learned a lot from her, but she was a traditionalist and didn’t take him very seriously. That’s why he was excited to know that she was retiring and a new drama teacher was coming, Valerie Torres-Rosario. He was even more excited when he found out Virgil wanted to be in the tech crew. So he asked about it while they were walking to the cafeteria together.  
“So... What made you want that?” Roman asked Virgil.  
“I mean, as a amateur photographer, I wanted to try out any lighting-related thing.”  
Roman looked at him, knowing that Virgil wouldn’t go out of his way for that little of a photography experience.  
“Okay, that and I need another club to show for my college applications and 3 years of theatre would seem impressive.”  
“Well, that’s more like it.”  
“Hey! That doesn’t mean I don’t like theatre.”  
Roman bought his meal from the counter as they were talking. Virgil and him went to their table where their friends were waiting for them.  
“Hey everyone, ‘sup?” said Virgil, as he was opening his sandwich he brought from home.  
“We are fantastic. We were just talking about the party I’m throwing!” Remy said, looking excited.  
“What party?” Roman and Virgil said in union.  
“Rem is throwing a birthday party.” Damien answered.  
“Yes and all of you are invited, which means you have to come.” said Remy.  
After that, they talked more about the party and Roman got the best idea.  
As Roman and Logan was walking to English Literature Class, he approached Logan with a cheeky grin.  
“So, Logan, are you gonna take Patton to the party?”  
“We are all invited, I don’t see why I should do that.”  
“Because you have a crush on him?”  
“Excuse me, Roman?”  
“What, don’t you?”  
“You, with your unnecessary romanticism, might think my friendly behaviour is a sign of admiration, but you are wrong.”  
“Was that a pun? OMG, you are already rubbing on each other like an old married couple!”  
Logan looked extra frustrated at that statement, took a deep breath and calmly said “Roman, I think you should sort your own feelings about my brother before you give advice to anyone.”  
“What?” Roman blushed, “Virgil and I, no, no... We are only friends.”  
“I know that, but sometimes that doesn’t change the fact that you have feelings for someone...”  
“Did you just admitted that you liked him?” Roman said, smiling. Logan ignored this question and continued. “...and if you wish to pursue on those feelings, you have my blessing.” Logan said before rushing to the front seat of the classroom.  
“I don’t have a crush on Virgil!” Roman shouted after Logan. He was lying.


	3. Year 11: The Party

“Logan, come on! We’re gonna be late.” Virgil shouted.  
They were going to Remy’s party and Logan was nervous. Since Roman cornered him about his feelings, he couldn’t stop thinking about Patton. He had these feelings for 2 years and they weren’t going anywhere. He didn’t know what to do. He fixed his bowtie what felt like a millionth time and walked down. Their father hugged them both and said “Don’t be late, drink too much or drink and drive, okay?” They nodded.  
“Have fun!”  
“You too, dad.”

Virgil drove them to Remy’s house in silence. Logan wasn’t the only one who was nervous. Virgil was anxious, but for different reasons.  
Virgil didn’t like crowds and parties. It was a distaste he developed when he was little. He has been a shy kid for as long as he could remember and he has been bullied for it for just as long.  
“So, are you feeling excited for the party?” Logan asked to break the silence.  
“Yeah, I guess. You?”  
“Well, you know parties are not my cup of tea. We’ll see how it goes, I guess.”

Meanwhile, Roman was talking to Patton.  
“Come on grandpa, drink up!”  
“You know I don’t like the taste of it that much.” he said looking at his bottle of beer.  
“Alright, hold on.”  
After a while, Roman came back with a cocktail.  
“This is Tequila Sunrise.”  
Patton looked confused “How do you know how to make this?”  
“Well, my cousin works as a bartender in the summer and she taught me some stuff so that I can replace her when she doesn’t feel like going to work. She pays me so win-win.”  
“Is that allowed?”  
“Probably not. Anyways, drink up.”  
“Hey, this is pretty good.”  
“So, Roman showed off his cocktail skills?” Virgil said as he approached them. He was wearing a Green Day shirt, black leather jacket with black ripped jeans and black boots.  
“Lookin’ good, kiddo.”  
“Agreed. Also, I’m not showing off.”  
“You two don’t look too bad yourself and yes, you are.” Virgil replied.  
Logan approached them with his and Virgil’s gift in hand, “Where shall I put this?”  
“Patton knows where it is, right?” Said Roman.  
“Yeah, I’ll show you.”

Roman turned to Virgil, excitedly. “So, the plan is on?”  
“Of course.”  
“So, what is your plan to get Logan aka. Mr. I don’t like losing control to drink?” Roman asked, emphasising on “is”.  
“Get me a mojito and leave the rest. I don’t even think I need a plan”

A little latter, Virgil approached Logan.  
“Hey big brother, you look nervous. That’s my job.”  
“I’m not nervous.”  
“Really, then why aren’t you talking to anyone, especially Patton?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“You’re not gonna tell me, fine. Take this, you’re gonna need it.”

“So, we got them to start drinking. Now we get them drunk.” Roman said.  
“Yeah, can you do that? I need to go to the bathroom.”  
“What? I can wait.”  
“Nah, there might be a line... or something.”

“Hey guys, happy birthday Remy!” Roman said.  
“Oh, thank you, sweety!”  
“Hey, you know what, I have the best idea.” Roman took out a bottle of tequila. “Let’s do shots!”

After couple of shots, Logan and Patton went up to the roof and Roman decided to look for Virgil. After searching everywhere, he found him at the balcony of the guest room. The tequila was starting to hit.  
“There you are!” Roman said. He realised Virgil looked uneasy.  
“You okay?” Roman asked, suddenly feeling extremely worried.  
“I feel,” he tried to take a deep breath “suffocated.”  
Roman took a seat next to Virgil. The feeling of responsibility started to sober him up. “Do you mind if I hold your hand?”  
Virgil shook his head. Roman took his hands and held them as if to say he is there for him.  
“Your breathing seems okay enough. Let’s try an exercise, okay?”  
Virgil nodded.  
“Can you tell me five things you see?”  
He looked around.  
“I see the table.”  
“Yeah?”  
“I see houses outside and I see cars.”  
“Okay.”  
“And the balcony light and I see you.”  
“What about four things you hear?”  
“I hear the party downstairs.”  
“I hear some dogs bark.”  
“Good.”  
“I hear a car.”  
“And I don’t hear anything else.”  
“That’s okay. Can you tell me three things you feel?”  
“I feel your hands, the wind and I feel the chair.” Virgil seemed much calmer than before.  
“Two things you can smell?”  
“I smell cigarette smoke from the ashtray and perfume.”  
“One thing you can taste?”  
Virgil hesitated before answering. “Cigarettes.”  
Virgil let go of Roman’s hands. “Thank you. I feel much better now.”  
“Always.”  
They sat in silence for a while, watching the sleeping neighbourhood. Virgil lit up a cigarette.  
“So, you smoke?” Roman asked.  
“Not regularly, when I feel anxious. Don’t tell Patton or Logan.”  
“Yeah, sure.”  
“What are they doing right now?”  
“They went up to the roof. Patton said the stars looked beautiful up there and Logan followed him.”  
“So, operation ‘get those dorks to admit’ is a success?” Virgil puffed his cigarette.  
“We’ll see.” Roman chuckled. “You’re gonna quit, right?”  
“I don’t know. I know it’s bad for health, but I don’t know.”  
Roman looked upset.  
“I’m sorry.” Virgil said. “How do you know that exercise, anyway?” He wanted to change the subject.  
“Well, after you told me you had anxiety, I wanted to know what I could do if you needed my help.”  
“Wow, that’s really nice. You are a really good friend. Thank you.”  
“It’s nothing. Anyone would do it for someone they care about.”

Meanwhile, Patton and Logan were on the roof, laid down, watching the sky.  
“It really is beautiful up here.”  
Patton giggled. “Beautiful. It’s weird hearing it from you.”  
“Why?”  
“You never call anything beautiful.”  
“You’re beautiful. Perhaps that’s the reason, nothing compares.”  
“Really?”  
“Yes.” Logan sat up, he felt his head turn as he did. “I love you, Patton. I love every little freckle. Your eyes, you smile, your voice.”  
Patton sat up as well. “Even the dad jokes?”  
“Especially them.”  
“I love you too, Logan. I love that you are passionate and dedicated. I love it when your hair gets messy in the wind. I love your laugh even though it’s rare. I love everything.”  
They started to get closer to each other. Patton cupped Logan’s face and Logan put his arms around Patton’s waist. Then, they started kissing.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it, leave a comment so I know what I’m doing right or wrong.


End file.
